The present invention relates to an apparatus for collecting used oil or other fluids, storing, and then dispensing that oil or other fluid at a later date. In more detail, the present invention relates to a container having an integral pivoting arm with a funnel mounted on the end thereof for collecting oil or other fluid drained from a vehicle which is used for storing the oil or fluid until it can be taken to a recycling point.
The reasons for making this invention have been recognized previously, and reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,042 wherein the following, somewhat colorful, discussion characterizes the problems associated with the changing of the motor oil from, for instance, an automobile:
"As costs associated with operating and maintaining an automobile have risen, and as many former neighborhood gas stations have closed or converted to `gas and go` stations which do not offer automobile servicing, more motorists have experimented with, or have switched over to, changing their own automotive motor oil.
"One undesirable consequence of this trend is the loss of a considerable amount of reusable oil from the petroleum refining and distribution system. Generally, when a car's oil is changed at a service station, the waste oil is saved at the station, from which it is periodically collected by the service station's supplier of new oil, or by an independent reprocessor. The collected waste oil is then rerefined into a useable product. Whereas many service stations have, as a convenience, or under direction by suppliers or governmental authority, established facilities to receive waste oil that is brought to the station by `do-it-yourselfers` (hereinafter "DIY's"), these facilities have largely proved to be inconvenient both to the DIY's and to the dealers and much waste oil never makes it back from the DIY's to these facilities. Rather, it is sewered or run out on the ground, or disposed-of in municipal waste, i.e., put out in an unsegregated manner with the trash for collection and disposition at a landfill. In many urbanized areas, casually discarded, used motor oil has become a pollution menace, and the subject of uncharacteristic criminal behavior by otherwise moral and upstanding citizenry.
"One problem DIY's have with doing their part in recycling waste oil is that many automobiles hold five to seven quarts of oil, whereas most of the empty containers DIY's are likely to have readily available are four-quart containers. It only takes one time of seeing the last quart of draining dirty oil brim over the container and spill on the garage floor, street or ground to convince a novice DIY that he or she is incompetent to change the oil again, and is one reason why the oil is dumped illegally.
"Another problem DIY's have with such a project is that most conveniently available closeable containers that have a large enough capacity to hold all five to seven quarts of oil are too tall to fit under the car at the location from which oil is to be drained from the crankcase. Some DIY's decide upon discovering this problem to abandon the project and take the car to a service station, others move the car to a place (such as over a storm drain) where they can let the waste oil drain out without being collected. A particularly enterprising segment of DIY's devise a multi-step operation in which they first drain the waste oil from the crankcase into a low-sided, broad container such as a dishpan, and then pour it from the dishpan or the like into a jug that is too tall to have fit under the car in the first place, but which has the virtue of being closable. Some DIY's make the same mistake at this stage as was mentioned earlier: trying to pour five to seven quarts of oil into a four-quart container. Others cause spillage when they attempt this transfer without the aid of a funnel, or with an inadequate funnel. Besides the mess, this method can prove to be expensive, as when the DIY discards an expensive polyethylene dishpan after a single use because it has gotten too messy and did not work well for this purpose, and is another reason why the oil is dumped illegally.
"A further problem is that some collecting stations will only permit the deposit of used oil in approved containers, or will only permit the DIY's to deposit used oil by pouring from the brought-in containers, with the understanding that the emptied containers themselves may not be left at the station but must immediately be taken back by the DIY's who brought them."
In spite of this explicit explanation of the problems involved in changing the oil, the device described in that patent has not proved to be the answer such that there is still a need for a device which can solve the problems which are characterized in that patent. One particularly vexing problem, as noted in that patent, has been the problem of the size of the opening into the collector container and the distance between the opening into the container and the crankcase or other location on the vehicle from which oil is to be collected. So far as is known, this problem has only been addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,395 (and Reissue Pat. No. RE 32,458), which provides an elongate extension member having a flexible medial portion between the funnel and the container for positioning the funnel in close approximation with the point from which oil is to be collected. However, the extension member does not allow adjustment of the height of the funnel, nor is there provision made on that device for storage of that elongate extension member in a manner which is conducive to its ready availability and easy use. The object of the present invention is, therefore, to provide an apparatus which not only addresses the problems characterized so explicitly in U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,042, but which also remedies the deficiencies of the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,395.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for collecting, storing, and dispensing used motor oil and other fluids which not only solves the problems and/or overcomes the disadvantages and limitations of these known prior devices, but which also is capable of being manufactured and assembled at reasonable cost. This object, is of course, always desirable for commercial purposes, but the high cost of the design and manufacture of the molds for making large molded plastic parts (sometimes as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars for hardened molds suitable for mass production) must be balanced against, for instance, the labor costs involved for assembly such that a premium is placed upon molding parts which are easily assembled--so long as they will all fit in one or two multiple cavity molds. The present invention addresses that balance by, for instance, using a single molded part as both the main support member for the funnel which collects the fluid from the vehicle and as the conduit for routing the collected fluid directly into the container in which the fluid is stored.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus capable of holding a substantial amount of oil as well as means for filling the apparatus while at the same time achieving the previously mentioned objectives.
Other objects, and the advantages, of the present invention will be made clear to those skilled in the art by the following disclosure.